7. Love is a Flower, You are its Seed.

It's been two months since Levy's return, and since then a happy surprise reached the guild's ears. Lucy wanted to keep it a secret at first, but apparently Natsu was too enthusiastic and proud that he announced it to the guild first thing in the morning after Lucy found out the unexpected yet exciting news.

"Lucy!" Levy hugged her blonde friend in joy. "Congratulations!" She said, her face beaming with happiness and excitement for her friend. "I just knew it! If you need any help in raising the child, I'll be there to help!"

Lucy placed her hand on her stomach, blushing lightly. "Thanks, Levy!" She said, wiping a teardrop from her eye and hugging Levy once again. "And you've got to tell him too." She said, and Levy blushed. Their touching moment between friends was cut short when Natsu was breathing fire in the excitement of it all once again, and Lucy had to stop him. Levy took her seat next to Aide and sighed happily. The boy watched Natsu with giggles, and then looked at his mother.

"Does this mean Lucy-nee will be a mama?" Aide asked.

Levy chuckled. "Yup. And you'll be a big brother when the baby is born." Levy said. "Isn't that exciting?"

Aide's eyes widened at his mother's words. The prospect of becoming an older brother seemed to intrigue him. "What do I do?" He asked nervously.

Levy laughed. "You just have to be there for him. Or her." Levy paused, looking pensive. "Hm, I wonder if she'll give birth to a girl or a boy." She smiled to herself.

Gajeel had just entered the guild and walked towards the two. "Papa!" Aide beamed a smile. "I'm going to be a big brother!" He said excitedly. Gajeel froze, looking at a smiling Levy who was still lost in her thoughts.

"What?" The iron dragon slayer asked his son. "You mean your mother's pregnant again?"

Aide became confused. "Mama's pregnant?" He asked.

Just then Levy snapped out of her thoughts and she looked at Gajeel. "Oh, you're here. You missed the great news! Although I'm sure if you asked around they'll tell you about it…" Gajeel stood in front of her, looking down at her nervously. She raised an eyebrow at him. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Are we getting another kid?" He asked. "Don't get me wrong, I-I just—it's sudden, so…"

Levy looked at him in confusion when she heard Aide talking to Lucy about being a 'big brother', and Levy started to laugh. Gajeel's mouth gaped open slightly as she was laughing, wondering what was so funny about it all. Her laughter subsided and she looked up at him sweetly. "It's not me, it's Lucy. She's carrying Natsu's child." She said, giggling for a moment. "Don't worry, we're not expecting another child…yet." She said, adding the last two words softly, but it did not escape Gajeel's ears.

"Yet…?" He asked.

"W-Well, I don't know, we've been…making love quite a lot, so there are possibilities…" She said with a blush. She started to feel nervous. "B-But what if I am…pregnant?" She asked with a meek voice, her nervousness evident in her voice.

He realized she was afraid once again. He gave a tiny sigh, sitting beside her and pulling her close to him. "I want you to know that this time I want to be with you so don't be afraid. We can have another kid, and another, and dozens, as long as we stick together."

Levy felt tears prickle in her eyes and she smiled. "Mm," She hugged him as she made a sound of agreement. "But dozens are bit too…tough." She giggled as Gajeel gave a grunt. They broke the hug as she beamed a smile up at him, and he gave her a gentle smile, only for his family. Levy then went to Aide. "Aide! You're going to get a younger sibling!" She giggled, catching Gajeel by surprise.

"What?" The man asked her, and she turned to face him and she giggled with a 'heehee'. "Don't 'heehee' me, you should have told me straight out!" He said as Natsu patted his back, proudly boasting something along the lines of 'my kid is gonna be better than yours', which led to a physical argument between the two fathers.

Three years later—

"No, you may not." Levy said sternly at her now eight year old son. He looked at her dejectedly. Gajeel gave her a dejected look as well.

"But I'm there." The dragon slayer said.

"It is still too early for him to go for such a dangerous mission," Levy said. "Even if you're there. Besides, didn't you always say you liked to do things solo?"

While Aide and Gajeel were looking at Levy dejectedly, Lily was nodding in agreement. "I agree. Aide is still much too young to go on such a high class mission. Also," He gave a small pause. "Gajeel has the tendency to go wild and forget about things around him."

Gajeel barked at the Exceed. "I'll be careful this time!" He said. And then he felt a tug on his shirt and he looked down at the small figure nestled on his lap, her face rubbing in his shirt as she yawned groggily, awoken from her sleep although she was still tired. She would have fallen off him in her sleepy stupor had she not been held by Gajeel's gentle yet firm grip.

The little girl of three years inherited her mother's blue hair and her father's red coloured eyes, but they were big and bright, brimming with curiosity and perhaps even a thirst for adventure. She is a little different from Aide in personality, as the boy was quite obedient but the girl was wild, just like her father.

"Oops," Levy smiled, as the girl started to whimper and groan, upset that she was woken up from her sleep. Levy stroked the girl's head. "Sorry, Reina, we must have been a little too loud. We should put her in her crib." But Reina refused to let go of her father as she gripped his shirt tight and buried her face in his chest. Levy stood up straight, her hands on her hips as she smirked. "Well, perhaps I should go on the mission instead while you take care of Reina." She said.

Gajeel smiled at his daughter. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at him with a smile. Levy sighed helplessly with a smile. "Let's go the guild." She said, with her holding Aide's hand and Gajeel carrying Reina in his arms.

Natsu was cackling as he threw his daughter into the air, the girl giggling excitedly and happily as she flew into the air. Lucy, on the other hand, was nearly turning into a nervous wreck. "Natsu! Don't throw Layla up in the air so high! What if she hits the ceiling? I can't bear to watch this." She sipped her drink as Mirajane laughed.

"Hi, Lucy!" Levy said, with Aide running off to the other kids in the guild and playing with them. She noticed Natsu playing with Layla rather roughly, and placed her hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Oh, I'm sure he won't do anything silly." Levy comforted her.

"I know," Lucy said with a sigh. "But I still worry. And you know what, he hasn't let go of Layla for the whole day! I think he dotes on her too much." She said. "He brings home all these strange things for Layla, and that girl seems to love them too."

Levy laughed, and she sat next to Lucy. She looked at Gajeel who was eating iron, and Reina who was drinking her bottle of milk on her father's lap. After a while, Reina hopped off Gajeel's lap and stood passively, looking around the guild. Perhaps she was still getting used to her surroundings, when she felt a gaze upon her. She faced Layla, and their eyes locked together. Natsu noticed first. "Yo, Gajeel, looks like Reina's looking at my Layla." He said with a grin.

"It's probably because Layla was looking at my Reina, Salamander." Gajeel scoffed.

It was silent between Levy, Lucy, Gajeel, and Natsu as they looked at their daughters. "Do you think they're having a mutual connection? Maybe they're going to become best friends like us!" Levy said excitedly, and Lucy nodded in agreement.

But they were wrong.

The girls then lashed out into a physical fight, rolling around the floor and screaming. "Why?" Levy and Lucy asked, startled and rushing to break the fight between the girls, while Gajeel and Natsu were laughing and cheering their daughters on. "How can you be laughing when they might get seriously injured?" Levy yelled.

"I think it's healthy." Natsu said, only to receive a comical slap from Lucy. Gajeel fell silent with the angry glare he received from Levy.

Reina and Layla still looked at each other with fiery gazes, and it reminded their parents of the sort of eyes that Gajeel and Natsu always gave when they look at each other. "I think they're going to grow up to become rather scary people." Lucy mumbled to Levy. "Like their fathers." Levy added.

It took a while to quell the fight between them, and Levy sat next to Gajeel with a sigh and rests her head on his arm, with Reina on her lap. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Just a little tired." She smiled as she stroked Reina's hair, lulling the girl to sleep. Aide had gone off on a little mission within the city with Romeo, thanks to Levy's approval. She started to remember all her memories from eight years ago, when she ran away from the guild, to three years ago when she returned, and to now, with her family of four. "It's incredible, don't you think?" She asked aloud, causing Gajeel to look at her curiously. She giggled. "I mean, remembering all that's happened in our lives, it's incredible that I'm here now, with you, and Aide and Reina, and the guild." There was a small pause. "Thank you, Gajeel."

He looked down at her, confused. "What did I do?"

"Stupid," She teased, giggling. "You came for me in the magic core three years ago, you forgave me for all I've done, and now we have a family and I'm…absolutely happy." She smiled at him. "So, thank you for everything, Gajeel."

He snickered, when Aide had returned from his mission. "I'm back!" He said gleefully as he proudly showed the two a small gold coin. "My first reward!" He said proudly. Reina spotted the shiny metal and reached out for it. Although Aide was reluctant at first, he finally gave it to his younger sister who beamed a smile at him.

Levy smiled, ruffling his head. "My greatest happiness is to be able to be in this family."

Notes:

So that's the end! I guess this chapter is more of an extra (a sappy extra), and that's why the previous chapter could have just been the final chapter. But I just wanted Reina and Layla in there. (Also I am going to name my child Reina)

Now I have two stories to update, and I've actually got another story in the works at the moment and I think I'm going to kill myself having three stories to update so I have no idea whether I should upload that third story. Should I?

Thanks so much for reading this to the very end, I hope you enjoyed it, although it's fine if you didn't enjoy this chapter because it's more of an extra/omake more than anything else.